Heartbeat
by Lady Saffir
Summary: Heero's thoughts during the final battle and the destruction of Libra.


Heartbeat  
By Lady Saffir  
  
  
Rated: G  
  
AN-PLEASE e-mail me and tell me what you think. Constructive criticism is welcome, along with praise. Thanks to all of the people that e-mailed me about Thanking God...your support meant a lot to me. BTW-Does anyone know if Cartoon Network is working on Endless Waltz? I'm dying to see it...  
  
DISCLAIMER: I, unfortunately, do not own Gundam Wing or any of it's related characters.  
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This was it. The one moment that he had been dreading and wishing for. Every previous battle was meaningless. In his heart of hearts, Heero knew that he must face his destiny alone, hurtling into the void known as the future.  
  
Grunting at the effort it took to swing Wing Zero around, Heero bought his saber up in an attempt to block Zech's attack. The floor once again shifted beneath his feet, flinging both Zero and Epyon apart. The intercom allowed him to hear Zech's curses as the other pilot fought for balance.  
  
Heero could faintly hear the other pilots calling out to each other, frantic to reach the falling debris. Facing Zechs again, Heero was about to deliver the killing blow when a voice trickled over the intercom.  
  
"Heero, Milliardo, please! Please come back to me! I need you both..."  
  
With a vicious curse, Heero swung wide, contenting himself with disarming Zechs. As he came to a rest, the voice of the other man reached him.  
  
"Why didn't you just kill me?"  
  
With startling clarity, Heero realized why the others hated it when he spoke like that. No hope, no glimmer of redemption...it was the voice of a man who had given up on life. But he had just found a reason to live. Did that mean there was hope for him?  
  
Clearing his mind of confusing thoughts, Heero answered the only way he could.  
  
"Because Relena would be sad."  
  
There. It was out in the open. If the others were listening, if they could truly understand his words, they would know that he had finally revealed his heart. Even if they didn't understand, Heero knew that Zechs understood, truly understood now why Heero was so desperate to stop the Earth from being destroyed.   
  
He did it out of love.  
  
"HEERO!"  
  
Heero had to smile at that. Quatra, it seemed, had been able to read between the lines. Ah, well, his secret was safe with Quatra.  
  
  
  
This was it. Zechs had finally realized the destruction that he would have created, and had taken steps to stop it.   
  
The only problem was, the steps weren't big enough.  
  
However, now that he had his buster rifle back, Heero was confident that he could stop any major damage from being inflicted.  
  
/At what cost?.../ his mind whispered, bringing with the question true fear. Yes, he could stop the fragment. But would it mean his death? At one point Heero would have laughed at the idea of fearing death. After all, hadn't he tried to self-destruct several times? But now...  
  
Struggling to stay ahead of the falling object, it took all of Heero's strength to turn and face the last remaining piece of Libra. The cockpit was becoming unbearably hot, the Gundanium metal beginning to buckle underneath the incredible pressure. The back thrusters were quickly losing the battle with Earth's atmosphere, making it impossible to maintain a solid lock on the falling metal.  
  
With startling awareness, Heero began to hear the other pilots, their soft encouragement seeming to wrap him in a blanket of confidence.   
  
"I know you can do it, Heero..." Duo, the prankster, the tease, the group's clown, always ready to make you smile.  
  
"Fire when you're instincts tell you to..." Trowa, voice soft but full of encouragement, seemed to somehow reach across space to touch Heero's heart. He owed Trowa a great debt - he owed his life to Trowa.  
  
"Come on, come on..." Wufei, his voice passionate with the desire to win, to overcome all obstacles.  
  
"Please, Heero, survive..." Ah...Quatra. He was either the sanest or craziest of the group, depending on how you looked at his actions.  
  
Other voices began to intrude.  
  
"Can he make it?"   
  
That was a good question. Just as Heero started to wonder that himself, someone answered for him.  
  
"Of course he can. I believe in him. Completely."  
  
In answer, Heero gritted his teeth, determined now more than ever to win - and survive. Whether or not his heart could take the strain was another question entirely...   
  
Once more he tried to steady the rifle, the image of a pair of blue eyes silently pleading with him...  
  
Thump...thump...  
  
"I will..."  
  
Those eyes, full of confusion, afraid to say anything, lest it be the wrong thing...  
  
Thump...thump...  
  
"I will..."  
  
The same eyes, glaring at him, daring him to take his best shot, to serve up defeat - or death...  
  
Thump...thump...  
  
"I will..."  
  
Beautiful blue eyes, shimmering with tears - for him. She actually cared enough to be worried about his future. In that one moment, Heero realized exactly how much Relena meant to him. She had been the only person to see beneath his mask, to see how much he craved a normal life.  
  
He could feel his heart beating wildly, the unsteady and harsh 'Thump, thump' seeming to resound within the small space. Heero could feel the thrusters beginning to stabilize, and knew that this was his only chance.  
  
The sights finally locked onto the target, and it seemed to Heero that time stood still. A cliché, he knew, but now he understood why people used it. It was the one moment when a person held their Fate in the palm of their hand. When Destiny held its breath, waiting to see what future you chose.   
  
A heartbeat passed. Then...  
  
"I WILL SURVIVE!"  
  
Even as he fired the shot, he was unsure whether or not he had succeeded. Heero watched intently, seeing how fragments began to fall off. Piece by piece, bit by bit, the remaining chunk of Libra began to disintegrate.  
  
Then came the explosion.  
  
The power of the explosion pushed Wing Zero even farther into the atmosphere, but Heero could only slump forward, breathing as though he had just finished a marathon.   
  
/It's over, it's over, it's.../ His mind began that litany, while his only response was to smile. It was over, they had won. He had won. He had saved the Earth, the colonies, Relena...  
  
And he had saved himself.  
  
All at once Heero could feel the burden being lifted, the lightness that followed making him feel like a giant. He was only fifteen - plenty of time to live his life out. But for now, he had some people he needed to see...   
  
  



End file.
